Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to put the facts on the table as to why we need the East West Link to be built in Melbourne. First of all, there will be 18 kilometres of freeway. It will remove the 23 sets of traffic lights which are currently there and—importantly—create 7,000 jobs. It will also take pressure off the Monash Freeway, which is otherwise known as the Monash car park! Recently, my federal colleagues, Alan Tudge, Tony Smith, and Michael Sukkar, and I launched the Dan Andrews Build the Link campaign. For those in Melbourne who want to get involved, they can go and sign the petition on why we need the East West Link to built in Melbourne. They need to go to buildthelink.com.au or they can visit my website: jasonwood.com.au.

Bill Shorten was a strong supporter of the East West Link at one stage. He signed a letter dated 15 July 2008 addressed to the Department of Transport, which stated: 'we strongly support the opportunities offered by the Eddington report to address current needs and plan for the future.' So we are calling on Dan Andrews, Bill Shorten and the Labor Party to honour the contracts—and build the East West Link. That is the right thing to do for Victoria. The Australian government has committed $3 billion for the construction, and that money is on the table. The state Labor government needs to invest the money it already has into building the road, not into paying $1 billion of taxpayers' funds in compensation. The federal government is totally committed to the project, as are those residents in the outer eastern suburbs of my electorate.

I note today in The Australian that Robert Gottliebsen, a very respected business reporter, quotes in his article 'Abbott must put a stop to Andrews' East West Link lunacy' from a letter from Professor Arnold Dix—who is actually a resident in my electorate of Latrobe. He says that Arnold Dix is the world's foremost international contract expert. The letter says:

In our extensive collective international experience, it is our firm view that enacting retrospective legislation to alter the rights and obligations to avoid any lawfully executed contract will incur large direct and indirect costs to the State of Victoria and Australia as a whole.

If this project does not go ahead it will not only embarrass Victoria but will potentially damage future investment in Victoria and the rest of Australia. Build the East West Link.